10 Questions for Jon Jones

Jon
“Bones” Jones will defend his 205-pound title for the eighth time
on Sept. 27. | Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

A day after his brawl with Daniel
Cormier during a press conference at the MGM Grand in Las
Vegas,
Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight titleholder
Jon
Jones spoke to Sherdog.com about the animosity that exists
between the two fighters in advance of their main event clash at
UFC
178 on Sept. 27.

The 6-foot-4 Jones also discussed the situation in his native New
York, where MMA still is not legalized, in relation to his dream of
eventually fighting at the state’s most famous venue: Madison
Square Garden. Coming off a victory over Glover
Teixeira in Baltimore, where he headlined a UFC 179 event that
set a record with a $2.3 million gate, Jones one day envisions
facing UFC middleweight champion Chris
Weidman in what he called “a super fight” at the Garden:

Sherdog.com: Can you discuss, generally, what happened
during the brawl with Cormier leading up to and including the
action that took place after he placed his hands on
you?
Jones: You saw what happened. Basically, we came out, face-to-face,
and he put his hand around my neck, and, you know, I kind of kicked
into a self-defense type of mode, and we went at it. Fortunately,
nobody got hurt. It’s not something that I’m proud of and I’ve
apologized several times to the Fertitta family and to [UFC
President] Dana White and the MGM Grand, as well as all of the fans
who saw that. It’s definitely not what I’m about or what I stand
for, but I also respect myself and I won’t be assaulted like that,
especially in public. But that’s something that I’m looking to get
beyond, and hopefully that situation doesn’t stick to me and Daniel
too long. I want people to focus on the actual competition; but
yeah, that’s not my proudest moment.

Sherdog.com: Was that a preview in any way of the intensity
that fans can expect for you and Cormier to bring to the fight in
September?
Jones: Well, you can’t really judge a fight like that and say
that’s what’s really going to happen in our actual fight. There
were a lot of people holding him down, and there were a lot of
people holding me down. I couldn’t really throw a solid punch
because there were a lot of people grabbing onto my arms, so it’s
hard to gauge what that meant.

Sherdog.com: Why did you feel it was necessary to be
apologetic and to exhibit a calm demeanor during your interview on
ESPN later that day, particularly given Cormier’s name calling
throughout the segment, and did you come off as the bigger
guy?
Jones: I just tried to be calm, cool and collected during that
interview, you know? It’s bad enough that people look at our sport
as being barbaric and uncivilized. I was actually still heated and
still ramped up, but I was able to control my emotions and not to
come off as a fool to the general public. I was already remorseful
and regretful about the situation, so I figured that being on
national television that yelling and screaming and being immature
wasn’t going to help anything at all, so I tried not necessarily to
be the bigger guy but to try not to sabotage the reputation the UFC
and what we actually stand for. At the end of the day, we’re mixed
martial artists and we’re not barbaric cage fighters.

Photo: D.
Mandel/Sherdog.com

Cormier owns a perfect 15-0 mark.

Sherdog.com: Can you address the different challenge
offered by the substitution of the shorter, 5-foot-11, more compact
Cormier as opposed to 6-foot-4 Alexander
Gustafsson?
Jones: Yeah, they have completely different styles. Gustafsson’s a
kickboxer with good footwork and pretty fair standup game, where
Cormier is primarily a wrestler and a brawler; so we’re working
against a different style and will have to use a different strategy
and use a different training camp and different partners. But we’re
prepared for this challenge.

Sherdog.com: Do you expect him to try to make it an ugly
fight to counter your range and game planning with a
ground-and-pound strategy?
Jones: I’m totally aware of what he needs to do to try to be
successful, and I know what I need to do to be successful. I have a
very honest assessment of both of our games, and I’m sure that
we’ll come up with a pretty good plan for him.

Sherdog.com: Do you have a prediction?
Jones: My prediction is that I’m going to win this fight and that
I’m going to win it in devastating fashion. That’s the name of the
game. Not only do I want to dominate the fight, but I really want
to make a statement in this fight and really perform at a high
level and do what is necessary to win.

Sherdog.com: Would you characterize the feelings of bad
blood between you and Cormier as those between two guys who
genuinely do not like each other?
Jones: Yeah, they’re genuine. I’m not going to say that I hate him.
I don’t hate him. It’s not even that I don’t like him. It’s just
that I’m a fierce competitor. I’m a fierce competitor and he’s a
fierce competitor, and we both know what’s ahead of us and that’s
real competition, good competition. You need to take on a certain
attitude to be able to meet that challenge and to do your best, so
we’ve both got our game faces on, and, unfortunately, those game
faces are ugly.

Sherdog.com: What are your thoughts on your experience in
Baltimore with the Teixeira at UFC 172? It was both the highest
gate for a sporting event all-time at the Baltimore Arena and the
second-highest gate for any event there behind The Rolling Stones
at a venue that has featured Beyonce and Bruce Springsteen, among
others?
Jones: Wow, I didn’t know that. Honestly, it’s just a testament to
the UFC and the promotion and the advertising that was put behind
such a great fight. Me and Glover
Teixeira, we both had long winning streaks and we’re both
winners, and I just think that the people wanted to see a great
competition and a great match, which it was. We both came and we
fought our hearts out and there was lots of blood left in that
octagon. We put our hearts on the line and we left it all out
there, and the people were really satisfied when they left; but to
answer your question, it’s really just where the UFC is at and how
fast we’re growing and what a great promotion that is.

Sherdog.com: What would it mean for you to have a similar
opportunity to participate in a fight like that in New York, a
state in which you were born and raised and one in which MMA is
currently still illegal?
Jones: I think mixed martial arts being legalized in New York State
is just a matter of time. We have a lot of intelligent people
working on this situation, and I think that every time that you
lobby in your state that you’re getting closer and closer. My dream
is to fight at Madison Square Garden, and I think that, as a
fighter, fighting at the Garden is [the] pinnacle. Muhammad Ali
fought there, and Mike Tyson fought there. The greatest fighters of
all-time have all gotten to compete at the Garden, so I think that
our time will come. I think that our proponents and our people will
continue to push for it, and I think that eventually, we won’t be
ignored. They just can’t ignore us forever.

Sherdog.com: Have you ever considered what it would be like
to face Weidman in an all-New York fight at MSG?
Jones: Oh, man, I think that would be awesome. I would absolutely
jump at the opportunity to have a super fight with Chris
Weidman. I respect him a lot as a person and as a champion, and
I think that that fight would make great sales -- absolutely.